Garmin

Garmin’s Fenix line is dark, brooding, and, in a way, beautiful. Their latest watch, the Fenix 3, joins that rebellious lineage with three new styles including a “Sapphire” model with real sapphire crystal face.
The multi-sport device can record running and swimming as well as almost any outdoor activity including hiking and skiing. It has a large GPS antenna in the bezel… Read More

Meet the Vivoactive. This is Garmin’s answer to the Apple Watch, the Fitbit Surge and all the rest of the smartwatches. And seriously, the Vivoactive seems like a contender.
The Vivoactive is packed with the standard fitness-focused accruements including a pedometer, heartrate monitoring capability, GPS and a touchscreen display Garmin says is readable in sunlight. The watch band is… Read More

We’re off and running this week with the latest TC Gadgets podcast. Garmin announced a new smart watch called the Forerunner 920XT. We take a look at that, as well as Garmin’s earlier smart watch offering, the VivoFit. We’re also curious about what’s going on with #gapgate, on the Galaxy Note 4 smartphones.
Meanwhile, the Jamstik MIDI device is finally shipping. Read More

Running watches can either be dead simple – see Timex’s Ironman line – or complex. Garmin usually errs on the side of complex. Their latest running watch, the 920XT, will be available before the holiday and promises enough bells and training whistles to help you go from couch to (probably not) a 100 miler in a few weeks.
The new Forerunner looks similar to the previous… Read More

Meet the Garmin Vivosmart. It’s a no-nonsense combination of an activity tracker and smartwatch. And that’s why I love the Vivosmart. It’s not flashy, but rather mundane. Utilitarian. It’s purpose-built and rugged but supremely enjoyable. The Garmin Vivosmart is the best fitness-focused activity tracker yet. Read More

Garmin’s first foray into activity trackers was a solid try, but left a lot to be desired. The vívofit just doesn’t have a lot of features to make it stand apart from its peers. But the company’s latest activity tracker, vívosmart (say veevo-smart), does just that.
The vívosmart combines good looks, activity tracking with smartphone alerts and controls — too bad… Read More

Fun fact: Personal navigators are still a thing. Garmin is rolling out a new series of 5-, 6-, and 7-inch GPS nüvi Advanced Series navigators and are attempting to keep the devices relevant with the inclusion of Foursquare data.
The Foursquare data of businesses, stores, restaurants and other destinations is searchable within the Garmin GPS unit’s “Where to” menu… Read More

You’re in a desert, walking along in the sand, when all of a sudden you look down and see a tortoise. It’s crawling toward you… how do you train yourself to outrun it? I like to think you’d probably want a $400 Fenix 2 from Garmin.
I’ve used Garmin running watches since their first, bulbous balls of GPS electronics were launched in the early 2000s. Now, after… Read More

There are a few things everyone knows about smartwatches right now. First, you must have an e-ink screen. Second you have to use them with a phone nearby. Third, they’re not very rugged. Timex and Qualcomm, however, have decided to blow those myths out of the water.
Their new product, the Timex Ironman One GPS+, is a self-contained sports watch that allows for GPS location tracking… Read More

The Garmin Vivofit is the company’s answer to the relatively new craze around wearable fitness trackers. After all, Garmin became relatively useless after every smartphone in the world got access to Google Maps with a GPS chip. Read More

Garmin had the world by the tail. With their amazing in-car GPS devices and great sports watches, it looked like things could only go up. Until every phone on the market got a GPS chip and Google mapped the world. Now, Garmin has to play catch-up and they’re coming after one of the most popular wearables to date – the Fitbit.
Their new band, called the Vivofit, looks like a… Read More

There’s plenty of commotion surrounding the smartwatch space these days, but let’s not forget that some of us have essentially been strapping tiny computers to our wrists for years now. GPS-enabled running watches are a serious tool in a runner’s arsenal, and Garmin recently outed two new ones — the Forerunner 220 and 620 — to help runners get a better grip on… Read More

Garmin built its empire on dedicated GPS devices, but those are obviously facing extinction in the face of smartphones that can replicate their function without requiring an expensive secondary hardware purchase. Today, Garmin announced a device that could help it capitalize on its changing role in the navigation ecosystem, while still allowing it to sell hardware to consumers. Read More

The $129 Garmin 10 is a new GPS watch by Garmin. Designed as a direct competitor to “grab and go” sport watches from Nike and Polar, the new watch offers training features like “Virtual Pacer” and auto pause settings as well as run/walk break setting for beginning runners. Read More

It’s all about the data. The just-announced Garmin FR70 Fitness Watch doesn’t care where you’ve been or where you’re going. It only cares about your body while you’re wearing it. Despite coming from Garmin, the FR70 doesn’t have GPS. It only tracks and monitors the body’s vitals and then presents this info in a coherent fashion through… Read More

If you’re looking to get preemptive with holiday weight watching, Garmin’s got an app for that.
The company today released the Garmin Fit app, which tracks speed, pace, distance, time, calories, and with the addition of Garmin’s ANT+ accessories, heart rate, and cadence. The app also maps out the user’s workout and uploads it directly to Garmin Connect, all for $.99. Read More

It’s interesting to chart the size and shape of fitness watches over the years. The first Garmins looked like protein bars melted to your wrist by this new one, the Forerunner 910XT, looks as svelte and lithe as the marathoners who will probably wear it. The 910XT costs about $400 and will be available next week.
The new model supports Garmin’s Connect online service as well as… Read More

I’ve used quite a few heart rate monitoring watches in my day. I’ve played with Suuntos and Nikes aplenty, with whosits and whatsits galore. But the RCX5 is different in its utter simplicity. Designed to be worn while swimming, running, or biking, all of the smarts are actually in the optional sensors, leaving the watch itself as basic as a $20 Timex with a few tricks up its… Read More

Garmin Ltd. and Navigon AG just announced that the two companies have reached an agreement and a subsidiary of Garmin will acquire the privately-held navigation company. The financial terms of the transaction was not released.
German-based Navigon pulled out of the North American PND market in 2009 and has since focused on the European region and smartphone apps. It’s likely that these… Read More

As rumored, GPS device company Garmin has bought its European competitor Navigon AG. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but previous reports have indicated that the company was acquired for roughly $72 million. Navigon will operate as a subsidiary of Garmin.
Similar to Garmin, Navigon, which is based in Germany, develops navigation software and GPS devices. The company also… Read More